Our hike destination this week is the Logan Hill Nature Preserve of the Finger Lakes Land Trust in Candor, about 18 miles south of Ithaca. The preserve was given to the land trust and the hiking trail was cut just last year.

From the land trust website: Logan Hill is a 285 acre natural area adjacent to Catatonk Creek and the Village of Candor. It offers miles of hiking trail with stunning views of meadows, ponds, forested areas and the hillsides of the southern tier. Logan Hill features diverse habitat for wildlife. You venture thrugh young and old forest, grassland and meadow habitat, and an elevated wetland that hosts southern species such as tupelo and cucumber magnolia.

The new hiking trail is about 2.5 miles. We will do the circuit twice making the total distance a little under five miles.

Logan Hill is a generous gift given to us by Betsy and Dick Darlington, longtime Ithaca residents. Betsy was one of a tiny handful of volunteers who created the Finger Lakes Land Trust over 25 years ago. Little did she know that the idea of a regional land trust would eventually result in the creation over 30 nature preserves and over 18,000 acreas of farm and natural area under protection. The mission of the land trust is to preserve, conserve and protect natural areas in the 11-county Finger Lakes region. More at: fllt.org.

The hike starts at 4:30 at the trail-head on Logan Hill Road (in the Villlage of Candor, this road is called Water Street). If you are driving directly to the trail-head, set your GPS to 100 Water Street, Candor; this is not the exact location but will get you close. Logan Hill Road is a rough, seasonal road. Park on the shoulder of the road near the trailhead, but beware of getting too close to a steep dropoff.